I know, dont dream do, but this will do for now

a little clarification part 2

Ok so I’m back from a trip that took me to Warrnambool, Hamilton and back again with a stop at the Mortlake Roadhouse for what I believe are the best potato cakes in the world. We also had to make short stop to help the bloke on the yellow Ducatti who hit a puddle and ended up in the table drain just a few km out of Mortlake. His waterproofs were worse for ware and there was a bit of damage to his helmet and bike but he seemed ok. We gave him a push, got him back on the road and I’m guessing now he’s sitting in a pub in Mortlake waiting for repairs to happen.

Anyway I digress, back to the beer. Right now I’m having a Coopers Sparkling, a beer that has to be listed in any reference to the best beers in Aus. Its an oldie and a goodie. I prefer to have it poured into a glass un rolled, some people may disagree with that but it is a sparkling ale, so get it off the yeast and give it a chance to sparkle!. I love its slightly fruity nose, and the alcohol forward flavor of the beer. Yes be warned its a falling down beer, but a favorite all the same.

OK this is more digressing, to what I had intended to write about, clearing up a few things, mainly that Dazzapalooza is not Pig-a-palooza 2, and that while Good Beer Week has no connection to Dazzapalooza officially, I am going to claim that it is a warm up event for Dazzapalooza. How could it not be? Also an update on the brewing session from the weekend. It was so uneventful and to plan that there is little other to do than post the recipes. As Hanibal from the A Team says “I love it when a plan comes together”

Pig-a-palooza 2This sounds like a celebration of pig and beer. Throw in a BBQ and we have what I call a good thing. I know nothing else about this event and it is in no way affiliated with Dazzapalooza. Sounds good though.

Good Beer WeekAn excellent sounding week that runs from May 16 to 22, its a celebration of beer that lasts for 7 days. The only thing I see wrong with this festivus of beer is that it only goes for 7 days. I really must book myself in for some events, so far I have an invite from Damien at Purvis Beer to some tasting type events. As I have never been to Purvis Beer I really must get there, apparently they have plenty of good beer. Also I’ve had a beer with Damien and he was a top bloke. Will have to look into some other events also, tastings, pub nights, beer launches. All good stuff.

My Weekend brewing

I did two batches on the weekend, both for Dazzapalooza, they are as follows;

British Pale Ale/Premium Bitter (it’ll be served on tap so I guess its a bitter?) This recipe is based on the “Brewing Classic Styles” by Jamil Z and John P recipe for the same style (page 119 if you have the book).OG: 1.045Batch Size: 23.00 L

Aussie Wheat (I’m calling it this for want of a better style descriptor). I got the idea for this beer from “Brewing with Wheat” by Stan Hieronymus, and is a further adaptation of a beer I did last year with a witt wort and an English yeast. This is kind of round 2 at this beer.OG: 1.052Batch Size: 24.00 LBrewer: Darren KeatingBoil Size: 30 LBoil Time: 60 minBrewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 Notes: 2kg crisps pale ale, 2 kg JW pills, 1.9 torrefied wheat, mashed at 55 for 15, 62 for 30 and 67 for 15

All rather simple really, no running out of gas, no spilling stuff or other catastrophes. All I have taken from this brew session is that my mill is not working to full efficiency. I think I have it running too fast and am chewing up the barley husk too much, this gives me a floury grist and I think its hurting my efficiency. I’m not all that worried about efficiency on my home brew setup but it would be nice to get the same results from grain I’ve milled myself as grain milled at Grain and Grape. I’ve put an email through to the guy at Mash Master (where I got my mill from) and am after some advice. It does work and I love the build quality on the mill but I think I could get it to run better.Time for some dinner now, by the way fuck its cold. Anyone else noticing this?